THE NEW YORKER, JANUARY 12, 2015
19
THE TALK OF THE TOWN
COMMENT
THE FIRE THIS TIME
In 1960, James Baldwin, the American Orwell, wrote
"Fifth Avenue, Uptown: A Letter from Harlem," an
essay that portrayed the ugly dynamic between white po-
lice o cers and young black men in the neighborhood
where he grew up:
Rare, indeed, is the Harlem citizen, from the most circumspect
church member to the most shiftless adolescent, who does not have
a long tale to tell of police incompetence, injustice, or brutality. I
myself have witnessed and endured it more than once. . . . It is hard,
on the other hand, to blame the policeman, blank, good-natured,
thoughtless, and insuperably innocent, for being such a perfect rep-
resentative of the people he serves. He, too, believes in good inten-
tions and is astounded and offended when they are not taken for the
deed. He has never, himself, done anything for which to be hated----
which of us has?----and yet he is facing, daily and nightly, people who
would gladly see him dead, and he knows it. There is no way for him
not to know it: there are few things under heaven more unnerving
than the silent, accumulating contempt and hatred of a people.
To contemporary readers, such a passage may seem a relic
of a harsh past. Baldwin's essay predates so many advances,
including the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts. The
New York Police Department's rank and file is no longer
majority white. Crime rates are lower than they have been
in decades. An African-American was
elected President in 2008 and appointed
an African-American to be the chief
law-enforcement o cial in the land.
American audiences go to see "Selma,"
get teary-eyed, and think how far we've
come.The temptation is to suppose that
Baldwin has long since lost all relevance.
Why, then, does the President gently re-
mind us that if he had a son he'd look
like Trayvon Martin? And why does the
Attorney General say we are a "nation
of cowards" when it comes to the dis-
cussion of race?
On December 3rd, a Staten Island
grand jury declined to indict Daniel
Pantaleo, an N.Y.P.D. o cer, on any
charge related to the homicide-by-
asphyxiation, in July, of an African-American man named
Eric Garner. New York's mayor, Bill de Blasio, commented
on the grand jury's decision. He spoke with unapologetic
honesty about the failure of the judicial system. He antic-
ipated, and tacitly endorsed, peaceful protest, "the only thing
that has ever worked" to advance social justice in America.
And he spoke personally, saying that he and his wife, Chir-
lane, have had "the talk" with their son, Dante, about "the
dangers he may face" on the street as a young man of color:
I've had to worry over the years, Chirlane's had to worry. Is
Dante safe each night? There are so many families in this city who
feel that each and every night. Is my child safe? And not just from
some of the painful realities---crime and violence in some of our
neighborhoods---but are they safe from the very people they want to
have faith in as their protectors?
De Blasio then echoed one of the most resonant lines
heard since the protests began last summer in Ferguson,
Missouri. "It's a phrase that should never have to be said,"
he insisted. "It should be self-evident. But our history, sadly,
requires us to say that black lives matter."
The demonstrations that followed were almost entirely
peaceful.There were instances of protest-
ers shouting despicable slogans, but those
instances were isolated and rare. Most po-
lice o cers showed no more disrespect to
de Blasio and the protesters than de Bla-
sio and the protesters had shown to them.
The truth is that both protest and argu-
ment, conducted peacefully and with de-
cency, can have the e ect of easing the
long-running tension between the police
and the policed and bringing about the
kind of change that is needed.The "tech-
niques" that killed Eric Garner demand
reform, and so does a system in which it
is nearly impossible to bring a police o cer
to trial.
And yet some police groups, includ-
ing the leadership of the Patrolmen's
ILLUSTRATIONS BY TOM BACHTELL